A visit to a virtual art gallery was recommended to us by our tutor during this period of the COVID-19, and the first museum that came to my mind was the Carnegie Museum, which hosts several galleries. Scaife gallery being one of them was always one that I have ever longed to visit. History has it that this gallery was facilitated by the Scaife foundation and its name (Packer, 2005). After logging in on the Museum site, the first view was that of an entrance hall with an artistic design and surrounded by beautiful rose gardens. A voice welcomes you into the beautiful ambiance to a hall whose walls and floor are painted all white. Unlike actual visit which would have the hall with people walking up and down the corridors, the virtual tour has the hall empty and vast but interestingly making you feel a one on one touch with the different artistic pieces which adorned and decorated the walls.
The white theme on the background gave the Scaife gallery a creative atmosphere making the art pieces hanged on the walls, and those at strategic places in the room be noticeable. The artworks as they appear one after another on the screen bring some happiness and fascination, and one cannot fail to wonder whether they are real pieces done by hand. But when keenly looked at through the lenses, you will see strokes of the brush against the canvas. The pieces of art in this category are paintings that were done in the eighteen. One exciting piece that lingers in mind is that which was done by E. Raymond Kinstler of Mrs. Scaife, which was put up to commemorate her input towards the gallery. The voice behind the virtual tour directs you to the paintings and lets you have self-analysis of the painting.
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Another piece is the painting on Nympheas painting, oil on canvas painted by Claude Monet in 1840. The painting, through the virtual presentation, appears to be a real picture because of the shades of color that contrast with the canvas. The sharp colors make one wonder whether the painting was done in eighteen-hundreds. Next to it appearing on the screen is that of Venus lamenting the death of Adonis. This painting was done by Benjamin West, having the painting in a somewhat dark background that brings out the quality of a good painter. This painting was also done in the eighteen. Apart from these paintings which I have mentioned, the other pieces were also of good quality, having the fact that they were originals works of painters and were done several years ago. One of them is the painting of a royal lion hunt. This was painted against a white background with the landscape shown by a single tree with an addition of a ground line. This painting appeared beautiful because of the subtle depiction of light and shadows that the painter appears to have seemingly used optical fusion (Falk, 2009).
The conclusions I have after watching most of the paintings displayed in Scaife gallery, and basing on the apparent fact that these artists did not have the technology and tools available to them as do the artists in the 21st Century, the artists appear to have impeccable artistic mastery and prowess in the field of art. This is because these artists produced pieces of work that would impress people of all walks of life and through generational lines. Their pieces are exceptional as compared to modern artistic works. The thirty-minute tour made me aware of a more profound power of art. The feeling left is like a real visit to a gallery where one feels like you have taken a journey through different parts of the world. Unlike actual visits, the virtual tour has the hall empty and vast to yourself and makes you feel and see the artistic works without third party interference.
Reference
Falk, J, H. (2009). Identity and Museum Visitor Experience. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast
Press.
Packer, J (2005). Solitary vs, Shared Learning Experience: Exploring the Social Dimension of
Museum Learning. Curator: The Museum Journal 48(2): 177
